TheBritannic was the
third of the Olympic class vessels, a trio of giant and luxurious ocean liners
(which also included the Olympic and the Titanic) built by the Belfast
shipbuilders Harland & Wolff for the White Star Line. The decision for this
colossal project was taken in 1907 during a dinner at the home of Lord William
Pirrie, chairman of Harland & Wolff. That evening Pirrie met Joseph Bruce
Ismay, chairman of the White Star Line and president of the International
Mercantile Marine (IMM) -a group of shipping companies owned by the famous
American financier John Pierpont Morgan. In 1901 Morgan decided to join the
increasing competition between shipping lines for transatlantic voyages between
Europe and America. The massive wave of immigration (12 million crossed the
Atlantic, heading just to New York, between 1892 and 1920) had made that line very
profitable and the supremacy of the two leading British companies Cunard Line and
White Star Line was already under serious threat by German, French and
Italian companies. Morgan used his usual tactic: the creation of an enormous
trust, the IMM. The death of Thomas Henry Ismay, founder of the White Star Line,
in 1899 found his son Bruce managing the company under serious pressure.
So in December 1902 IMM bought the White Star Line leaving Cunard the only
independent British line. It was a huge blow for the British government because
now the ships of the White Star Line couldn't be used in the event of
a national emergency.

First, the British
government made an agreement stating that the ships of the White Star
Line would remain on the British register and would be available in case of an
emergency. In return White Star would not be treated as a foreign
company. Second, it loaned Cunard Line £2,600,000 for the construction of two
super liners. With government support Cunard launched in 1907 the Lusitania
(31500 tons, 24,5 knots) and the Mauretania (31938 tons, over 24,5 knots), the largest and
fastest ocean liners in the world. White Star had to react and with the enormous
economic resources of IMM entered the battle in 1910 with the Olympic
(45324 tons, 22 knots) and the Titanic (46328 tons, 22 knots) in 1911. A third
ship would follow in 1914, the Britannic (48158 tons, 22 knots) -originally
named Gigantic but renamed soon after the Titanic tragedy. Cunard
didn't stand still and had already begun the construction of the Aquitania
(45647 tons). The future would reserve many surprises for both companies and this
balance wouldn't last for long.

click on image to enlarge

Lusitania

Mauretania (in hospital ship colours)

However, despite
the huge investments of the two major British companies, it was the German
Hamburg-Amerika Line, run by Albert Ballin, that first introduced the concept of
"the biggest and the best". The Germans (Hamburg-America Line and Norddeutcher Lloyd)
had already overtaken the British several times during the course for the Blue
Ribband, the prestigious prize for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic (eastbound
or westbound). The construction of the two trios of super liners by Cunard and
White Star forced Ballin to react. His project was even greater, as the race for
the Atlantic had become a matter of national pride. Three super liners, over
50000 tons each, were designed for Hamburg- Amerika Line:the Imparator
(52117 tons), the
Vaterland (54282 tons), both launched in 1913, and the Bismark
(56000 tons),launched in 1914. But it was WW1 that ruined the ambitious plans of
Albert Ballin who looked certain to dominate once more over his competitors.

Here
is the data for the four competitors in 1914:

Hamburg America Line (Germany): 194
ships (1,307,411 total tonnage)

Norddeutcher Lloyd (Germany): 135
ships (907,996 total tonnage)

White Star Line (Great Britain): 33
ships (472,877 total tonnage)

Cunard Line (Great Britain): 29 ships
(344,251 total tonnage)

Albert
Ballin never lived to see the fate of his super liners. He died after taking an
overdose in 1918, just one day before the signing of the armistice. After the war
two of them were awarded to his British rivals, both of whom had each lost one super
liner during the hostilities. The Imparator was awarded to Cunard (who had
lost the Lusitania) and was renamed Berengaria. The White Star (who
had lost the Britannic) was awarded the Bismark, renamed
Magestic. The Vaterland was seized by the Americans in New York and was renamed USS Leviathan.She transported more than 100.000 soldiers to
France (in one trip she carried 14.416!) and after the war she served with the
American Line.

click on image to enlarge

Imparator

Magestic/Bismark

Leviathan/Vaterland

Cunard
was the luckier of the British companies. Having lost only one super liner (the
Lusitania) and with the Mauretania and the Aquitania still intact
(plus the Berengaria), the company could still meet the high pre-war
standards of service. On the other hand, the White
Star, having lost the Titanic before the war and the Britannic
during the conflict, remained with only one of its super liners, the Olympic.The Magestic
managed to guarantee some profit, but that was not enough to stop the slow decline. In
1934 White Star merged with Cunard.

The period

The three ocean liners built
for the White Star reflected the British social structure at the beginning of
the new century. That period was marked by the influence of King Edward
VII. Around him was developed a group of conservative industrialists who had a
unique goal: the geographic and economic domination of the British Empire around
the world. The effects were devastating for the lower classes and the contrasts
were not few. The victory of the opposition in 1906 and the king's death in 1910
led to the introduction of the welfare state and more democratic
measures. But tension remained high and the nation was paralyzed by a
series of strikes during 1911-12. Immigration to America increased dramatically, especially
from Ireland. At the same time rich Americans became
regular users of the Atlantic line. So it's not surprising under those
circumstances that new ocean liners had to be more luxurious for the rich
passengers and much bigger for the immigrants. Velocity was still a crucial
factor but the introduction of steam engines had solved this problem some years earlier. Cunard and White Star followed different paths. Cunard
depended mainly on
velocity in order to attract customers. White Star chose extreme luxury and
size combined with acceptable speeds. On White Star's super liners the
accommodations for first and second class passengers were unique and even third
class passengers, who were usually making the trip in inhuman conditions, had
their own open deck, a comfortable dining room, larger cabins (larger than second
class cabins on other liners),a separate sector for single female passengers and
sanitary services much above ordinary standards. Of course, prices were high
($4350 to $3100 for first and second class) and the third class passenger who
could afford a trip ($32) on an Olympic liner was part of an elite, considering the desperate economic situation of most immigrants.

Birth of a giant

On April 14th, 1912
Titanic struck an iceberg and sank after two hours and forty minutes during her maiden
voyage in the North Atlantic. The accident claimed the lives of 1502 people, the largest maritime
disaster for 75 years (this sad record was taken in 1987 by a ferryboat
that sank near the Philippines with 4375 victims). The shock was great because
the ship was considered unsinkable by experts and had a huge impact on the improvement of
safety measures on ships worldwide. The British and American investigations
pointed out:

1)Non-efficient design of the watertight bulkheads:
None of them reached the Bridge deck, so as not to divide the 1st class
areas. As a result the ship's hull was NOT divided into watertight compartments and water
overflowed from a flooded compartment to the next one from the top edge of the
bulkheads. Longitudinal bulkheads were not installed on the Olympic class vessels
,a safety measure used on Cunard's ships.

2)Lifeboat capacity was around 50%
of the ship's total number of passengers.

Gigantic/Britannic's
keel had been laid in yard number 433 on November 30th, 1911.She would join service
in the summer of 1914 but the Titanic tragedy forced White Star to make
extensive design modifications. This was much more difficult for the already
operating Olympic,which had to stay out of service for six months, than
for the Britannic,whose construction was in an early stage. It was a top
priority project for the White Star, considering that the company was
suffering a difficult period in
its public image.

(Gregoire Patrigot collection)

There was the installation of anextended watertight double skin which ran the length of the boiler
and engine rooms (60% of the ship's 852ft/269m total length) and rose 4ft/1.2m
above the load line. The watertight bulkhead's arrangement was completely
revised, too. A new bulkhead was added in the electric room engine and five of
them (16 in total) were extended up to the Bridge deck. Now the ship was divided
in 17 compartments and the hull was fully protected. With these
modifications the ship should be able to survive a damage similar to the
Titanic remaining afloat (but not in motion) with any six compartments
flooded.

Britannic's watertight double skin. (Britannic 2003 Expedition)

SAFETY
FEATURES

Olympic

Titanic

Britannic

Watertight
double skin

Yes*

Yes

Yes (extended)

Total # of
watertight bulkheads/# of compartments/# of watertight compartments**

Pneumatic tube (to
transport messages from the Marconi room to the bridge)

No

No

Yes

*Extended after the Titanic tragedy.

**Watertight compartments: Spaces
defined by the five watertight bulkheads extending up to B deck. The rest of the
watertight bulkheads were continuining only up to E-Deck and they could not stop
water passing from one flooded compartment to the next one.

The engine arrangements
were similar to the Olympic and the Titanic: 29 boilers, all but five double
ended and weighing 105 tons each and two four-cylinder triple-expansion reciprocating
engines each developing 16000hp.The remaining steam could pass into a low
pressure turbine (weighing 490 tons) driving the center screw and developing another
18000hp. With a total engine power of 50000hp the Britannic could reach and
maintain a speed of 21 knots and have reserve power if needed.

BOILER
ARRANGEMENT

Olympic

Titanic

Britannic

Total # of
boilers

29

29

29

# of
double-ended boilers/# of single-ended boilers

24/5

24/5

24(enlarged)/5

Aprox. total heating
surface (in sq.feet)

144.000

144.000

151.000

Externally, the Britannic
maintained the enclosed forward end of the promenade deck (present onthe Titanic
but not on the Olympic) for the protection of the passengers against
heavy weather. The aft shelter deck was also enclosed in order to create a
covered area for third class passengers. But the most visible modification
were the huge new lifeboat davits.The Britannic could carry 46 open lifeboats
(plus two motor launches with their own wireless). The lifeboats were positioned
in four groups on the boat deck. Each davit could
handle more than one lifeboat and in two of the eight stations (those not
located near
the funnels) could transfer a lifeboat from one side of the ship to the other,
something useful in case of increased list to one of the two sides. This
arrangement created a large space for the passengers on the boat deck and
made possible boarding the lifeboats while still on deck. Then the full lifeboat
could be lowered at a safe distance from the ship thanks to two separate motors
and not manually. Finally a light at the end of each davit would make
the operation easier at night. Indeed the new davits could guarantee a rapid and
safe evacuation of all passengers and crew.

Internally, the ship
was quite similar to the Titanic.Some new features included a hairdressing salon for women, a children's playroom, dog kennels, a gymnasium for
second class passengers, a fourth elevator for first class passengers and a
pneumatic tube than ran from the wireless room to the bridge in order to send
navigational messages (on the Titanic the most important ice warning
never arrived at the bridge because the operators were too busy to leave their
posts). Of course, the ship would have all the major attractions of the Olympic
class.

**According
to TheShipbuilder magazine a "Winter Garden" was considered as a
possible feature for the promenade deck.

With all those
modifications the gross tonnage would arrive at 50000 tons making the Britannic
the largest British ocean liner and the best of the Olympic class. On February
26th, 1914 (at 11.15 a.m), Britannic was finally launched at Belfast
without any launching ceremony (a White Star tradition) nearly 27 months after
her keel had been laid. 81 seconds later the hull was afloat and five tugs
towed it to the fitting out basin. When completed the ship would have the
following passenger capacity:790 first class, 836 second class, 953 third class and 950 crew. She would be ready for service in the spring of 1915.